Take a look at Session before you decide.
Signal vs Threema as a Secure Messaging App
I like both but I have only ever been able to convince people beside my SO to use Signal because it is free. When you're trying to get people to use a new messaging service you want as little barrier of entry as possible and even just the small cost of threema is enough to turn folks away.
People are not going to download and use Threema. I've gotten plenty of people to use signal, I suggest you concentrate your efforts with it.
inomfood When you're trying to get people to use a new messaging service you want as little barrier of entry as possible
Exactly. Now that Signal has reach a critical mass, they aren't really affected by a decision to not support SMS. But if SMS wasn't a feature back then, I wouldn't be able to invite many people.
Yea, the answer is basically Signal at this point just from the perspective that people actually use. Whatever the argument you might be able to make for Threema technically, no one uses it that I know. It would truly be for a specific contact or few if you made a technical case for it.
- Edited
I was able to convince about 20 people around me to use Threema.
What I don't like with Signal: you have to solve a Captcha before using the app. So you have to connect Googleserver. I don't know what information will be transmitted, but this coercion is a pain in the a..
Same here: I installed in the last months on several devices Signal and Molly and had to solve captchas (the ones with the "mark every photo with busses on it"). But I have always VPN on.
I use Signal and Threema (since it is FOSS): On Signal I have 70 contacts, on Threema 4. Nevertheless, Threema is a really good tool: It works really smoothly and reliable. I like the fact, that you can use it without a phone number.
As a third messenger I use the xmpp app Conversations. This would be my favourite, but I gave it up to convince people. ;)
I am happy when I can draw people to Signal which is not so hard.
[deleted]
- Edited
dirksche What I don't like with Signal: you have to solve a Captcha before using the app. So you have to connect Googleserver. I don't know what information will be transmitted, but this coercion is a pain in the a..
If I am not mistaken, Threema is a paid app, so you have to actually buy it somewhere (Play store?), so there are some information about payment involved and also some e-mail account. If that is the case an user has to also get in touch with servers of Google. If all above is correct (I admit I haven't looked pass the payment info), I would be much OK downloading apk from Signal.org, than to provide all necessary information to buy "anonymous" app that in the process gathers even more information about the user.
Nevertheless, anything that tries to avoid Facebook, Apple and Google deservers (IMO) at least little praise :-)
FWIW threema has had some serious issues in the past. They are supposedly fixed with their new ibex protocol, but their previous protocol was flat out broken in 5 or 6 different ways.
https://breakingthe3ma.app/
https://soatok.blog/2021/11/05/threema-three-strikes-youre-out/ (furry warning)
psynusoidal
soatok crushed that blog. That was a great read, thanks for posting.
[deleted] You can buy the Threema app from their own store and bypass Google completely. Threema also offers its own push service, so you don't need Google services.
For me, Threema is the only messenger with a transparent financing model. One-time payment from private customers and corporate subscriptions.
App developers also have to earn their bread and butter, and the server infrastructure also costs money. If you don't pay with money, you usually pay with something else (e.g., data).
Blastoidea Yeah, I went through this as well. My rule was that I was not giving any personal information (ie phone number) to the app. I narrowed it down to Session and Matrix.
It seems there is no perfect app but Session seems to work the best for me and my family. There were some issues with prior versions where notifications weren't sent, etc but that seems to be fixed.
And yes, convincing people to switch is hard. So I took the stubborn approach: use Session or don't bother messaging me. I had one hold out friend who tried to convince me to use WhatsApp, she just calls me now. :)
I think if you consider all the trade-offs between security, privacy and usability (which goes hand in hand with a decent number of users), these two messengers are the only choice. For Signal I have got a significantly larger user base which is probably due to the fact that it is for free and people get more pleasant features they like from WA (e.g. stories). Threema is a bit more sober. However, I like the polls there a lot. BTW: With Threema you can decide for every single contact if this contact recieves a "read receipt" or "typing indicator". And you still can see those receipts yourself if your contact allows you to see them. Even if you don't allow that contact to see receipts for the messages he sent to you. You can also tell Threema to search your own contact list for contacts who have Threema without the necessity to share your own phone number. So you can find Threema users from your contacts without telling them that you use Threema (unless you text them via Threema of course).
My family and I switched to Session on the first of the year.
It works fine for us.
i never see element mentioned in these discussions. is it not up to par with the rest? always seemed like a good option.
- Edited
Matrix is more like federated IRC with optional end-to-end encryption. It doesn't have the same privacy/security focus as Signal, but it does allow you to host your own server on your own hardware/infrastructure which you could run behind a private VPN if you wanted. IMO the reference Matrix server implementation, Synapse, seems pretty janky but it fills the niche for people who are into the whole "fediverse" thing and want an IRC/Discord alternative.